| 1. |
- Bergdahl, Juan, 1962-
(författare)
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Den gemensamma transportpolitiken : Elimineringen av hinder för de gränsöverskridande vägtransporterna inom den Europeiska Gemenskaperna 1958-1992
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses the European Community's political efforts to eliminate barriers to Community road transport between and within the member states. In this context, the study concentrates on the Community's activities to remove barriers to market access, such as limitations to the freedom to provide transport services, and pshysical barriers such as infrastructure capacity restrictions, checks and inspections at Community internal borders. The dissertation addresses the subjects through an institutional approach. According to the Treaty of Rome, the necessary provisions for international transport and rules under wich nonresident carriers could operate transport services within a member state other than their own (cabotage) should originally have been introduced within fifteen years of the foundation of the EEC. While the Community could be said to be relatively successful in eliminating physical barriers to cross border road transport, progress was lacking in the field of market access. Political crises, national differences and a policymaking system centred around unanimimous decision-making limited or blocked the development of necessary provisions for the enforcement of the freedom to provide services in road transport. The Community's transport policy dead-lock was finally broken in the 1980's through legal action against the Council, new Commission policy initiatives and a change of relevant decision-making rules. Between the mid 1980's and 1992, necessary provisions were developed at an accelerated pace. However, at the end of the period of study, much still remained to be done before the European road transport market could be said to be integrated in the true sense of the word.
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| 2. |
- Engdahl, Torbjörn
(författare)
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The exchange of cotton : Ugandan peasants, colonial market regulations and the organisation of international cotton trade, 1904-1918
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Between 1904 and 1918, the British colonial administration in Uganda regulated the cotton industry in order to maintain and improve the quality of the exported cotton. The main topics of the dissertation are: Why were these regulations enacted and who initiated them? The dissertation analyses the impact of the organisation of the international cotton trade on the buying practices in the local Uganda cotton market. The assumption is that there were economic factors, which induced the colonial regulations. Therefore, the study applies a marketing channel perspective combined with transaction costs analysis. The study is primarily based on the correspondence between the Colonial Office in London and theGovernor's Secretariat in Entebbe and on records from the Uganda Company. In the beginning of the twentieth century, the international cotton trade was concentrated to a few cotton exchanges, which provided an open market for cotton from various parts in the world. In Uganda, peasants were provided with cotton seeds from their chiefs, who in turn had got it from private companies or from the colonial administration. The chiefs then organised the marketing of raw cotton while European and Indian companies and free intermediary traders bought the cotton in local markets. The larger firms then organised the export of the cotton. It is shown that the buyers' costs for assessing the quality of the cotton and their methods of financing the purchase of the crop can explain changes both in the methods of buying operations and in the colonial market regulations. The main problem was to countervail the effects of adverse selection in the local market. The economic aspects of the cotton regulations were to affect the quality premium of the exported cotton on the cottonexchange, to reduce quality control costs and to reduce the quality risk premium in the local market. It is then argued that the colonial administration in Uganda had an interest in issuing cotton regulations, since an increased quality of the exported cotton would improve local prices and increase the cotton growing peasants' taxable income.
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| 3. |
- Ghezae, Nighisty
(författare)
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Irrigation water management : A performance study of the Rahad scheme in Sudan, 1977-1996
- 1998
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The central objectives of this study is to assess the performance of irrigation water management of the Rahad scheme in Sudan between 1977 and 1996. The study assesses how well the scheme has succeeded in achieving irrigation management objectives using the criteria of productivity, equity, cost recovery and environmental stability. The survey findings indicate that scheme performance was below expectations. There were untimely and unreliable water delivery, inequitable water distribution, yields of field crops below expected potential, low level of water charges and recovery rates, and environmental sustainability problems. The study uses different data collection methods including a survey-questionnaire, in-depth group and individual interviews, document reviews and personal observation. Three field works were carried out to collect data in 1990, 1992/93, and 1996. The study attempts to identify the causes for the level of performance thus attained through an investigation in the organization and management of water distribution, system maintenance, irrigation financing and agricultural extension service activities. The analysis of these activities was made both at the main system level and at the farm level. In this regard, the study discovered fundamental problems in the co-ordination between the different activities and in the allocation of duties and responsibilities between the farmers and the officials and within the official organization. Furthermore lack of operational procedures, low motivation, inadequate skills, and lack of finance were contributing factors. The study suggests remedial actions considering the specific conditions of the scheme, experiences of other well-operated schemes, and taking into account the theoretical elements that constitute the parameters of an effective irrigation management system. Suggestions include the creation of a unified scheme management structure, delegation of authority, increasing of staff and farmers' participation, creation of financial autonomy, designing of operational procedures, upgrading of skills and rehabilitation of the physical structure.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Johansson, Lars-Olov, 1951-
(författare)
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Levebrödet : Den informella ekonomin i 1930-talets Dalarna
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation is a study of the informal economy, and analyses incomes, consumption and housework in 86 households in different social groups, during the year 1933. The study is based on primary material from an investigation of the costs of living, wich was carried out during the entire year, and tax assessment records for the same period. Determining what belonged to the informal economy are the incomes that are accounted for in the primary material but not in the official and public assessment records. The informal incomes were quite varied and came from odd jobs, boarding, lodging etc., even if there was a connection between informal incomes and incomes in kind. The middle-class benefitted from informal incomes in cash as well as fringe benefits. The informal incomes of the rural population mainly came from small scale production for the households own use. The working-class and salaried employees on their part were almost totally dependent on formal incomes from wage labour. Informal income was on average 15% of the formal one, but there were great variations between different social groups, as well as between individual households. Low-income households worked most with informal housework in order to reduce their expenses, especially the rural population which worked extensivley with small scale production. The informal economy did not reduce differences between households and social groups. Rather it strengthened the differences in pecuniary as well as qualitative terms. On the whole the informal economy was of little importance and no alternative to the formal one. In fact it was dependent on the terms of the formal economy and the law and regulations that surrounded the latter.
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| 6. |
- Lundqvist, Torbjörn, 1958-
(författare)
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Den stora ölkartellen : Branschorganisering och kartellbildning i bryggeriindustrin 1885-1914
- 1995
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation deals with the different functions of the Swedish Brewers Association: political defence against reductions in the free trade in beer and taxation of the brewing industry, defence against strikes and boycotts, and the making of a nation-wide cartel. The breakthroug of temperance ideology, the fiscal needs of the state and the growth of the socialist labour movement threatened the property interests of the brewing industry. The institutional changes that meant the end of laissez-faire for the brewing industry led to organisational development in the Association. The development aimed at making political influence more effective and the instrument was a control organisation. During the 1890s several attempts were made to form a nation-wide cartel. It failed because the Association tried to optimise contracts and because of an ineffective organisation. When the organisation had developed into a bureaucratic control organisation, with employed officers and a powerful executive committe, the formation of the cartel succeeded in 1905-06, not least because of a "learning by doing process". However, cartelisation was difficult to accomplish and it took three years to recruit the main portion of the breweries, which meant 193 members in 1908. A period of 17 years elapsed between the first attempt to form a nation-wide cartel and 1908. Thereafter the cartel remained in effect until 1956. The development of Brewers Association into a control organisation was necessary for successful cartelisation, not least because many brewers did not dare to join a cartel which lacked possibilities of enforcement. The main purpose with the cartel was political. Through control of the market the Brewers Association believed that self-regulation would prevent further reductions in the free trade in beer. The study is primarily based on the records of the Brewers Association wich made it possible to follow its discussions in detail.
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| 7. |
- Lönnborg, Mikael
(författare)
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Internationalisering av svenska försäkringsbolag : Drivkrafter, organisering och utveckling 1855-1913
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This dissertation analyses the driving forces behind the organising and development of Swedish insurance firms business abroad. It contains an investigation of all insurance branches with interests in the international insurance market (except marine insurance companies). The historical process of internationalisation was initiated at the same time as the foundation of the first joint stock insurance firm, Skandia, in 1855. The internationalisation began with reinsurance contracts with major European insurance companies with business in Sweden. To compensate for reduced premium income, through reinsurance, the contracts had a tendency to become mutual, which meant that the Swedish firms in a early phase of their development exposed themselves to foreign insurance risks. The insurance firms also started general agencies abroad, initially in the Nordic Countries, but over time they conducted business further away from the domestic market. The main incentive for internationalisation, both through reinsurance and direct insurance abroad, was that it was a way for the insurance firms to diversify their portfolios, develop a sound risk management, secure long-term survival and also diversify their income through time and space. The internationalisation process was, however, different in different branches; fire insurance firms deepened their commitments abroad, while firms in thebranches of life, accident and minor insurance had to abandon this strategy and instead concentrated their business to Sweden. The financial capacity of the firms engaged abroad became more important over time. The larger firms also needed a broader context for their portfolios to avoid a too high rate of risk exposure. Hence, larger fire insurance firms maintained and also extended their international business, while smaller firms were forced to adopt and/or preferred a domestic profile for their business. Furthermore, differences ininstitutional constraints, path-dependence and organisational structures were contributing factors behind the internationalisation of the Swedish insurance firms.
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| 8. |
- Magnusson, Ulf, 1953-
(författare)
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Från arbetare till arbetarklass : Klassformering och klassrelationer i Fagersta - ett mellansvenskt brukssamhälle ca 1870-1909
- 1996
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation addresses the problem of the formation of an industrial working class. This is a concrete historical process in which the workers themselves are the main subjects. In the iron-works community of Fagersta the early popular movements (rather than unions) played a more direct and important role in the class-formation than normaly appreciated, especially the Temperance lodges and the Franchise movement. Due to the highly polarised society, these organisations were dominated by proletarian groups and totaly lacked members even slightly associated with the ruling elite. The class formation was further facilitated by common interests the members shared as being in one way or another dominated by Fagersta bruk; by the extremely rapid growth and transformation of both society and production, causing a need for a new social and moral context, and by the conspicuous economical and political power of the Fagersta bruk. The social unrest and its negative effects on working-discipline, combined with the growing economic values at stake and the fear of socialism, caused the iron works employers to form one of the first employers organisations in Sweden and, as shown in Fagersta, to develop a new managerial policy, industrial paternalism. To a great deal this policy was constructed upon the real or alleged paternal relations of the past. The purpose was to neutralise the negative consequences of the disintegration of the old society, including the former social and economic relationships between workers and employers. Also, the different phases of working class culture played a formative role in shaping the new class-relations and the industrial working-class itself.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Olsson, Mikael, 1966-
(författare)
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Ownership reform and corporate governance : The Slovak privatisation process in 1990-1996
- 1999
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Since 1989, there has been a period of rapid change of the economies of the former Eastern bloc. Within a few years, the majority of the formerly centrally administered economies had begun restructuring their economic systems, including the privatisation. of formerly state-owned enterprises. This process developed differently in different countries, depending among other things on their historical traditions and the momentum of their social, political and economic transformations. This doctoral dissertation examines the privatisation of large-scale industrial enterprises in Slovakia prior to 1997. In particular the thesis analyses the changing political and institutional framework governing the process and method of privatisation; and how the governance of firms was affected by the new markets and ownership- and control-structures that were established. Special attention is paid to the role played by investment funds andinvestment-companies established as a consequence of voucher privatisation. The research problem is approached both from an aggregate national level and from the enterprise level. The thesis includes a number of case studies of enterprises in Slovakia that underwent privatisation, and of investment funds that emerged to take part in the process. In addition, two panel-data sets were constructed for the sake of statistical analysis. The study points to the drastic changes in privatisation policy and its enactment, under different governments. It leads to the conclusion that privatisation is a highly political process, whose economic effects cannot be separated from its distributional effects. This politicised nature of ownership reform is shown to have some negative side-effects with regard to the development of well-functioning governance structures. It is, for example, pointed to that the capital market, as it developed during the period of study, was highly non-transparent,characterised by high transaction costs and insider-trading. The study also documents an increasingly concentrated ownership structure of the Slovak industry and relates it to the changes in privatisation policy. In the final analysis attention is drawn to a recurring theme in the study, namely the issues related to the relative stability and durability of the institutional set-up. In many cases an insecurity about "the rules of the game" led to short-term incentives and opportunism on behalf of the economic and political agents.
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